Secret cabinet



Mar. 3. 1925. 1,528,618

L. KNASTER SECRET CABINET Filed D90. 14, 1923 3 Sheets-Shes; l

" 1.. KNASTER SECRET CABINET Mar. 3., 1925. 1,528,618

Fued vec. 14, 1925 a Sheets-Sheet 2 Swami doc l. [miter Patented Mar. 3, 1925.

PATENT. OFFICE.

UNITED STATES LEON KNASTER, OF WEST HOBOK EN, NEW JERSEY.

SECRET CABINET.

Application filed December 14, 1923. Serial No. 680,725.

my coapending application for improvements in secret cabinets, Serial Number 635,370, filed April '28, 1923.

As in the before nentioned application, the primary idea involved herein is the provision of a normally appearing article of furniture, especially useful in homes and elsewhere, but which in reality embodies in its construction secret compartments or safe deposit receptacles inaccessible to any unacquainted with the necessary manipulations of the parts to disclose them. In so far asthe general features of construction are concerned, the present improvements closely follow'those shown in my prevlous application, and the object in view has been to eliminate some of the disadvantages mhermg 1n the details of the arrangement, as Wlll be made more clear heremafter.

More specifically speaking, the secret com partments in my former invention are located in the rear portion of the desk or article of furniture and access to these is had by the dropping down of theback walls or sections thereof. This makes it neces- 1 sary to pull/thepiece of furniture entirely away from the side of the room against which it is usually disposed, thusunneces sarily marrmg the floor and entailing move-' ment of a heavy object by persons physically unable, perhaps, to perform the labor without help. My present invention is. de signed to either partially or entirely do away with this, depending upon the parts to which access is desired, incidentally eliminating at the same time the probability of accidental discovery of the secret character of the construction.

A further improvement over my previous construction is involved inthe arrangement of one of the secret compartments upon the back of the desk and the mounting of said back'so that it will readily move vertically from its normal position into an elevated one, rendering the second of the secret compartments accessible, the first compartment mentioned being locked against any displacement through the coaction of the top of the desk intercepting the path of its vertical travel.

Other refinements and improvements in compartment in elevated position disclosing the inner safe compartment;

7, Figure 2 is a fragmentary top plan view showing the sliding top drawn back to render-the back secret compartment accessible and release it for movement;

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional view disclosing the details of construction, the back secret compartment being raised and locked in elevated position;

Figure i is a vertical section taken about 011 the plane indicated by the line H of Figure 3, looking in the direction of the arrows;

, Figure 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 5-5 of Figure 3, looking upwardly in the direction of the arrows; and

Figure 6 is a fragmentary detail view showing the secret catch device co-acting with the cover operating drawer.

Like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several figures of the drawing.

Specifically describing the construction of my invention, A designates the body portion of a desk mounted upon the legs B, the particular form or style of construction being a matter of choiceor design. The cabinet section C includes the pigeon holes 1, in advance of which is the table section 2 with a folding leaf extension 3; which is designed when closed'to lie below the plane of the sides of the desk body,'as shown in dotted lines in Figure 3, and when swung about its hinged connections 4, will meet and rest upon the drawer 5 when the latter is pulled into outermost position, the drawer thus constituting a support for the extension leaf tending to prevent breakage of the hinge connection from pressure upon its surface stop 8 which is designed to coact with the rear wall 5 of the drawer for limiting. the

initial outward movement. Thisstop is held depressed into the path of movement of the rear wall of the drawer by the spring 10 and is capable of displacement by an actuating lever 11 pivoted at 12 beneath the partition 13, the location of which lever is of course supposed to be a matter of knowledge to the owner of the desk only.

The'free' end 11 of the lever ll lies in such position, in other words, that it will not be seen but it may be operated by reaching in when the drawer is open. Shifting it laterally will raise the catch and enable the drawer 5 to be pulled to its outermost position, shown in full lines in Figure 3. The purpose of this will now be set forth,

Slidably-mou nted'in the sides of the desk is a curved cover ltwhich is adapted to close the pigeon hole compartment 1, this compartment 'for purposes of distinction being termed a public compartment. cover whenin closed position rests upon the free-extremity of the folding leaf ex tens-ion 3'so that this will be locked in such position when the desk is not in use. This forms an important feature of my construction butfwill not be more specifically referred to in view of'the fact that it is the subject-matter of my co-pending application for improvements iii-furniture construction, filed ofeven date herewith.

The cover 14 is connected by means of the link 16 to the bracket 17 attached to the rear wall 5 of the drawer 5, so that when the drawer is moved outwardly it will be automatically lifted or opened and correspondingly the inward movement of the 1 drawer will close the cover.

As in the case of my previous invention, the cover 14 has two degrees of movement, that depicted by the dotted lines being the normal and thatby the full lines theabnormal position. For ordinary purposes the opening of the cover to its first limit of movement is suflicient, but; when the drawer is released from the catch 8 in the manner hereinbefore described, the cover may be moved by said drawer into the abnormal position, thereby rendering accessible afurthersecret locking member in the form of a pivoted catch lever- 17 mounted in a countersink beneath the desk top. 18. The

lever is pivoted at 19 and is formed with a hooked extremity to engage with the catch 20 attached to the inner face of the back 21 of thevdesk. A spring 19 is prefera-blyprovided to normally hold the lever 17 in engaging relation so that it will automatically engage with the catch 20 when the top 18 is shifted. 'The top 18, it will be apparent, is mounted to slide forwardly into the full line position shown in Figure 3 when the lever 17 has been disengaged, which may be easily accomplished by inserting the I fingers The 7 beneath the top 18 when the cover 14 has been shifted back the full limit of its movement.

Thepurposeoft-his movement of the top is to afford access to the secret compartments of the desk, and of course the opera tion of the parts as before described will be known only to those who have authorized access. I preferably provide two secret receptacles, one designated 24 and the other or innermost main compartment 25.

The important difference between-this in-' vention and my previous one resides in the construction and arrangement of the first-- of these compartments. Whereas, formerly I employed a pivoted or outwardly swing ing back, in my present construction I prefer to mount. the back 21 to slide vertically, and instead of having a separate file box or receptacle, I formthe compartment 24' by attaching. a properly shaped metal wall to the back 21 so thatthis compartment will necessarily move with the back when the latter is raised to admit of'access-to the main compartment-25., I have thus done, away with. several disadvantages, for: with a pivoted back as before mention, itis nec essary to move thedesk; completely away from the wall to permit ltut'O open and the possibility of accidental. discovery of the secret compartment was greater, due to the tendency of the backto drop downnponthe disengagement of the lock holding it up. Further, to obtain access to themain com.- partment it was necessary both to drop the backv down and remove the auxiliary or file receptacle.

The front wall of the compartment 24 is provided with a hand hole 22 as seen best in Figure 1, by :means of which the compartment is elevated readily, and spring-actuatedcatches 23 mounted-in slots in the edges of the. back21 automatically project to engage with the top of the sides of the desk when the compartment is raised to its'uppermost position-shown in Figure 4:. When it is desired to lower the compartment the catches 23 are pressed in-- wardly and-the frictional contact of these catches is suflicient to brake the falling movement in order to prevent sudden drop of the back.

Obviously when thecompartment 24 is in its lowermost position and the top 18 is slidthereover, the back is lOCkQdzilg'fllDSt'; displacement. When thetop is moved forwardly, access to the compartment 24:, which is open at thetop, iseasilyihad without any movement of the said compartment itself. Thelesser-important papers or documents maybekept in this receptacle. When it is desiredto obtain. access vto the compartment 25, however, the. back 21 is raised.-

This-innermost secret compartment is so constructed as to be fire-proof and burglarproof, having inner and outer metal walls 28 with interposed insulation 29. Into this is slidably received the metal drawer 30 on the front of which is provided a permutation lock 34.

In order to provide for a very easysliding movement of the top 18, metal plates are secured to the upper edges of the sides of the cabinet 0, and securing slide plates 36 are attached to the top to interlock with the plates 35 and afford a sliding rail surface. In the same manner the sliding movement of the back or the secret con'ipartment 24 is facilitated by the provision of interlocking slide plates 37 and 38. In connection with the latter, stop extensions 39 are arranged so as to coact with stop screws 40 on the inner faces of the cabinet sides to thereby limit the elevating movement of the compartment and prevent complete displacement normally.

It will be apparent from the foregoing that this arrangement and construction of the rear section of my desk is a most desired improvement over that employed in my previous invention and I wish it to be understood that further changes in the details and construction may be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and Within the scope of the claims hereto appended. 7

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cabinet of the class described, provided with an opening at'the back for access to a compartment, a shiftable top section, a back section slidably mounted for vertical movement between the sides of the cabinet to close said opening, said top section being arranged to engage over the back section aforesaid to prevent displacement of the latter until the top section is shifted, and a compartment adapted to be rendered accessible from said opening when the back section is shifted vertically.

2. In a cabinet of the class described, a shiftable top section, a back section slidably mounted for vertical movement between the sides of the cabinet and adapted to close an opening therein, said top section being arranged to engage over the back section aforesaid to prevent displacement of the latter until the top section is shifted, a secret compartment mounted upon said back section, and a secret compartment occluded by said back section and rendered accessible at said opening upon the shifting of the top and back sections.

3. In a secret cabinet of the class described provided with an opening at the back for access to a compartment, the combination of a front cover member, operating means for said cover member, a top section shiftable horizontally, a shiftable back section mounted to close said opening at the back and carrying a locking member, a compartment supported by said back section, and a manually operable locking member mounted upon the under face of the top section to engage the locking member of the back section whereby to interlock the top and back sections.

4. In a secret cabinet of the class described, the combination with a front cover member, operating means therefor, said opcrating means constituting a drawer, means for limiting the movements of the cover member to normal and abnormal positions, a shiftable top member, an auxiliary compartment beneath the top member and mounted upon the back section of the cabinet, said back section being shiftable vertically to raise the compartment and permit access to the rear of the cabinet, interlocking rail plates for said top and back sections, automatically engaging interlocking means intermediate the top and back sections for preventing movement of the top section, and a main secret compartment intermediate the cover member and the drawer and normally closed against access by the auxiliary compartment and rendered accessible by raising the back section.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

LEON KNASTER. 

